Garment holder



s. w. JORDAN GARMENT HOLDER Filed Jan. 6, 1959 March 1, 1960 INVEWTOR.

SILVIA WELTER JORDAN lIlEfiu 2 ar United States Patent GARMENT HOLDER Silvia Welter Jordan, Lodi, NJ. Application January 6, 1959, Serial No. 785,184 4 Claims. Cl. 223-66) The invention relates to garment holders.

Ordinary garment hangers have the disadvantage that the weight of the material is carried entirely from the shoulder or waist of the garment. Thus a dress suspended from the shoulders or a skirt suspended from the waist is subjected to the stretching effect of the weight of the dress or skirt material on the fibers and weave of the fabric. This becomes quite a serious problem in the case of dresses, particularly those with wide bias hems or which are made of knitted material. What happens is that the hems become very uneven, making necessary frequent dressmaker alterations.

Attempts have been made to solve this problem with reference to skirt hangers by providing what is known as a flare skirt bag which is simply a long narrow bag which receives a folded skirt. Such a bag is not at all suitable, however, for dresses, nor for any skirt or dress made of thin soft material such as chilfons, flat crepes, nylon, Dacron, etc. A better answer to the problem of sagging and stretching has long been needed, and it is the object of my invention to furnish this answer.

I have devised a garment holder, or press, which is extremely simple in form, yet which will effectively support either dresses or skirts in such a manner that the hems will be kept even, and which will also hold pleated skirts firmly pressed. My improved holder comprises a thin sheet of material such as kraft paper, this sheet being of generally circular form with an opening in its center. This sheet folds over a skirt or over the skirt of a dress with the waist or bodice of the garment extending through the center opening and the skirt spread out fanlike between the folds of the sheet. The folded sheet will now be in somewhat the form of a half moon and is ready to be rolled up beginning to roll at the fold line and rolling around circumferentially. The roll will be shaped like a megaphone, more accurately described perhaps as frusto-conical. Suitable ties are provided to keep the holder rolled up with skirt pressed between the folds of the roll. Now the holder is ready to be hung up, with the dress (or skirt) supported upside down. The hem line will be at the top and the weight of the skirt will be evenly distributed throughout the area of contact between it and the folds of the holder.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated the best mode contemplated by me for carrying out my invention.

Fig. 1 is a face view of my garment holder extended fiat.

Fig. 2 shows the holder folded over the skirt of a dress.

Fig. 3 shows the holder rolled up, tied and in hanging position.

In my preferred construction as shown in the drawings, the garment holder comprises a circular sheet of thin material 4, which has a central opening 5 and folds over a skirt or dress with the waist or bodice of the garment arranged in the opening and the skirt spread out between the folds of the sheet as illustrated in Fig. 2. The sheet in its folded form is adapted to be rolled up into the form shown in Fig. 3, this form being described as frustoconical. Ties 6 are provided as a means for retaining the holder in its rolled form and a pair of loops 7 or other suitable means are provided for hanging purposes.

The sheet 4 may be made of kraft paper, fabric, plastic, etc., but should in any case be a flexible material having some inherent stiffness so that it can be folded and rolled in the manner indicated but without wrinkling. Along a radius of the sheet 4, the sheet may be prefolded, scored, or folded and stapled as at 8, to make it easier to fold the holder over the garment and indicate to the user how it is to be folded. At a point diametrically opposite from fold line 8, the sheet may be left without folding so that the fold line at that point can be self-forming as the doubled sheet Within the garment inside is rolled up into the form shown in Fig. 3, it being desirable that the inner fold of the sheet not be constrained in a fashion which would tend to make it wrinkle. A similar result can be obtained in other ways, as for example by providing multiple score lines 10 (Fig. 2) any one of which may constitute the final fold line after the holder is rolled up.

Also, if desired, the holder may be provided with concentric series of cut or tear lines 9 so that outer circumferential portions of the sheet can be removed where the holder is going to be used only for shorter or smaller garments.

The terms and expressions which I have employed are used in a descriptive and not a limiting sense, and I have no intention of excluding such equivalents of the invention described as fall within the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. A garment holder comprising a thin sheet of material of generally circular form which has a central opening and folds over a skirt and like garment with the waist of the garment arranged in said opening and the skirt spread out between the folds of said sheet, said sheet having a preformed fold line radially disposed with reference to the circular form of the sheet and being free of constraint to a predetermined fold line at a point diametrically opposite from said preformed fold line whereby said sheet is adapted to be doubled to semi-circular form and then be rolled up into frusto-conical form without constraining the inner fold of the sheet in a fashion which would tend to make it wrinkle.

2. A garment holder comprising a thin flat sheet of flexible sheet material having some inherent stifiness, said sheet being of generally circular form and having a central opening to permit the upper portion of a garment to be passed through it, said sheet folding over on its diameter to enclose the dress of a garment between the folds of the sheet, said sheet having a preformed fold line radially disposed with reference to the circular form of the sheet and being free of constraint to a predetermined fold line at a point diametrically opposite from said preformed fold line whereby said sheet is adapted to be doubled to semicircular form and then be rolled up into frusto-conical form without constraining the inner fold of the sheet in a fashion which would tend to make it wrinkle.

3. A garment holder comprising a thin sheet of material of generally circular form which has a central opening and folds over a skirt and like garment with the waist of the garment arranged in said opening and the skirt spread out between the folds of said sheet, said sheet having a preformed fold line radially disposed with reference to the circular form of the sheet and having multiple score lines radially disposed to one side of a point diametrically opposite from said preformed fold line whereby any one of said multiple score lines may constitute the final fold line after the holder is rolled up.

4. A garment holder comprising a thin fiat sheet of flexible sheet material having some inherent stiffness, said sheet being of generally circular form and having a central opening to permit the upper portion of a garment "to be passed through it, saidsheet folding over on its diameter to enclose the dress of a garment between the folds of the sheet, said sheet having a preformed fold line radially disposed with reference to the circular form of the sheet and having multiple score lines radially disposed to one side of a point diametrically opposite vfrom said preformed fold line whereby any one of said multiple score lines may constitute the final fold line after the holder is rolled up.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Hochfelder May 1, 1956 

